Pokémon Crimson
by HeleneAlexandra
Summary: SEQUEL TO POKEMON SCARLET: Read that first. Gina and her friends try to get to the League, get to the bottom of the conspiracies plaguing Kanto, and keep themselves and each other safe. Pokémon Red/Blue Gameboy-verse. 50 years after Red and Blue's Pokémon journeys. Original 150. OCs. Long series: part 3 of 6! Content rating upped due to profane language.
1. Fall :Gina:

Pokémon Crimson

Chapter 1: Fall

(Gina Ikeda)

_Wilbur Amrhein, chief of the Celadon City police, was unavailable for comment about a recent string of unusually violent Pokémon attacks near the eastern border of the city's woods, the other side of which shares the Celadon metro station and underground tunnel entrance. The incidents, which have been cropping up with greater frequency over the past three months, have grabbed the attentions of Celadon citizens and commuters from other cities alike. Much talk about what will be done for a long-term solution is, and has been, underway._

"_Wilbur won't talk to the media anymore," Amrhein's colleague, Hikaru Saiki told the _Celadon Bulletin_ in a brief interview last week. "He's been telling the media the same story over and over and he's gotten to the point where he's pretty sure no one's listening. That's not how I feel about it personally—just giving you some insight into Wilbur."_

_Amrhein, Celadon's police chief for 20 years, has over 40 years' experience in the force, working his way up from an officer at age 18. Generally well-liked and respected in Celadon and abroad, his recent turn against working with the media to give out press releases about this and other newsworthy incidents is raising some eyebrows._

"_We love him, but he's getting up in years," one Celadon resident commented, who chooses to remain nameless. "It's almost time for him to retire."_

"_I hear he's been spinning some conspiracy theories, but doesn't want to get pegged as old and loopy. That's why he keeps to himself so much now," said another source. Among the conspiracy theories Amrhein is reported to be spreading, big name companies, high-ranking officials, and in some cases, even Gym Leaders' names have cropped up. When asked for clarification the source would not divulge specific names or details._

_In spite of the attention Amrhein and the CPD are now receiving for their lack of action regarding the aggressive wilds to the east, everything else in Celadon appears to be going according to the status quo._

"_Crime rates are at a steady low, we've got the gambling under control, and the new neighborhood watch system citizens are organizing in the southern districts have dropped petty and property crime significantly," Saiki tells our Celadon reporter. "So, don't worry about us. We're definitely looking into the wilds to the east and keeping up with the rest of our work, too. Just try not to harass Wilbur for a statement so much, you're not gonna get one."_

"We've fallen for that one before," Kaylee noted, crunching through the shiny, tough skin of an apple.

"True enough," Victoria agreed, leaning up over Gav's shoulder now that she was done reading the words on the tiny screen. Gina remained where she'd been stooped down, squatting near the table where Gav was sitting and using her hands to cling to the edge. She felt sort of like a dog heeling at the feet of her master, begging for table scraps, and wished they could hook Gav's PDA up to a bigger screen so it was easier to share newsworthy things like this.

"You mean with Whittaker-Cheng," Gina said, starting it off as a question and ending as a statement halfway through. She was tired, and sometimes when she was tired she started to ask stupid questions, or questions she already knew the answer to, just out of reflex. The others had gotten used to these statements and Victoria didn't need to confirm or deny what she said. Gina stood up, feeling a tingling up and down her legs from being in the cramped position for too long, and stretched out the rest of her sore muscles.

Training with Jason and Amaris last night had been killer. Gina was more of a do-it-for-fun trainer, preferring to laugh and banter with her opponents, take longer heal breaks, and more importantly take actual _food _breaks between sessions. Amaris had always been more down-to-business about it, but even his workaholism when it came to training paled utterly when compared to Jason's obsessive level. Even now her two fellow initiates were outside, sparring viciously with their starters. She could tell from the whizzing and _chunk _sound of Razor Leaves striking and sticking in the wood of the cottage, and the harsh, wet rumble of a stray Water Gun spraying up the side of the house like a high-powered hose. She's been part of that battle for a while, but a full hour out in the sun was enough for her.

It wasn't like she could blame them for being so driven. They'd given themselves a deadline that evening so many months ago when Gav had fatefully told them to reinstate their Master journeys. Even though she was scared for her friends and herself more often than not these days, and had only thought of her own Master journey, apparently on hold forever, once in a blue moon, once he had said those words a fierce, hungry longing had started in Gina and refused to let her go. This was what she had left home for over a year ago, after all.

The Viridian Forest was at the height of its fall splendor. The leaves were reds, golds, browns and oranges, some vestiges of green still clinging to the stems and cores, but for the most part the trees were an explosion of fiery color. When the sun was setting, as it was now, the whole world was dyed an intoxicating hue.

It was chilly here and getting colder all the time. Edith had taken to wearing her boots while mucking out the pens, which meant the next two hours of her day would be spent meticulously cleaning her footwear. The cooler weather was not a deterrent at all for Amaris, Jason or Kaylee, who continued training from nearly dawn to dusk. Gina sometimes wished she could be that motivated to boost her team and sometimes felt grateful that she was the only person left who apparently could handle balancing the "eat, sleep, etc." part of her life with the training part.

Still, she felt she was falling behind and knew she had to get a move on if she'd be able to keep pace with her fellow Initiates on the long road ahead. They had Fuchsia mapped as their first tentative badge stop and were supposed to set off in a few weeks. Time had flown; it really didn't seem like it had been so many months since they had discovered the corruption in Saffron Gym, lost Orion, regained him, and lost him again.

"I'm just gonna flag Wilbur as a possibility, same as Spikey," Gav said, clicking a few buttons on his PDA and setting an alarm so any other news stories about the Celadon wilds or Police Chief Amrhein would be brought to his attention. "We will not be approaching anyone for help between now and the League though," he promised the gathered team members.

"Right," Kaylee said. "I'm totally fine with that. Need to cut down on the amount of unpleasant surprises in life." She turned to Gina, assessing her, and Gina knew what the question would be. "So, according to your Dex, what's your top?"

"Charmeleon's in his late twenties," Gina explained. "I'd like to boost him to thirty or so before we head to Fuchsia."

"Woo," Kaylee said, clicking her tongue. "Better get on it."

"Yeah yeah," Gina said, already hating the idea of even more training when she'd been at it since sunup. The cup of coffee she'd had was long gone and she contemplated another one. "I will."

The sounds of her fellow Initiates battling outside drew there as she took her second cup of coffee outside into the front of Edith's yard. Amaris and Jason had taken to battling with each other semi-frequently, which at first had surprised Gina, but now she didn't bat an eye at the sight. Both of them were extremely focused and had very good, personal reasons for wanting a powerful team to go against their enemies.

The battle was intense, as all battles were between the boys, and Gina was struck with an idea as she unlatched Magikarp's Pokéball from her belt. She'd been forcing her Water-type to watch a seemingly endless reel of battles, and perhaps she was imagining it, but it seemed like he was getting less and less apathetic and blank-faced about it. Magikarp had even managed to learn one offensive move—Tackle—though Gina pretty much only let him fight against Pokémon like Sandshrew or Nidoran, opponents who were more patient and tame when it came to the frustratingly slow process of battling. Magikarp bobbed around in its orb of floating water, splashing a little as he dove in and out briefly. He seemed more lively than normal and turned to watch the battle that was raging before them in interest.

Ivysaur shot forward for a Tackle, but Wartortle withdrew and Ivysaur smashed awkwardly against his highly-reflective shell. It looked like it hurt, and Gina cringed, but Ivysaur shook off the impact and grabbed the turtle with his vines, hefting with great effort and hoisting him completely overhead. Gina's eyebrows rose at that, no small feat, and Amaris dove out of the way as Wartortle was thrown through the air in his general direction.

Wartortle emerged from his shell in mid-air and shot out a torrent of high-velocity, sticky bubbles at his opponent before he crashed into the ground. Ivysaur sent out a slew of Razor Leaves which popped through and stopped most of the debilitating bubbles, though some of them managed to hit target and gum up Ivysaur's limbs. Wartortle shot through the sticky leaves, sustaining some damage from them as they stuck to his yellow underbelly, but a moment later he had closed his jaws tightly around Ivysaur's front leg in a truly painful looking Bite attack. Ivysaur responded by howling in pain and sending out a huge puff of Poison Powder right in Wartortle's face.

There was an unspoken pause to do a heal break and deal with status effects, and Gina stepped forward.

"Mind if I cut in?" she asked, getting the attentions of both boys. They both seemed mad, but she knew that was likely just how they looked when intensely focused on training. It was a competitive thing to begin with, but sometimes with Jason and Amaris it just turned into a pissing contest, too.

"Yeah," Jason said, not smiling per se, but letting his serious expression mellow out into more of a neutral one for her. Gina would take what she could get.

"Hurry up, then," Amaris said impatiently, crossing his arms and calling Wartortle back to position with a shrill whistle through his teeth. Wartortle rolled over to the battleground in his shell, something Gina got the impression he did when he was too lazy to walk.

Charmeleon seemed simultaneously confused but happy to be back in the fray, and as he jumped forward to join the now three-way battle, Gina stepped back and pulled her Dex out of her pocket.

This thing sure had seen better days. All of Gina's things would up broken, dinged up, or scratched in some manner, her Charmander wristwatch a perfect example. Amaris' Dex was somehow immaculate and pristine, as if he'd had it covered in protective shrink wrap that had only recently been removed, but Gina's device was scuffed and dirty. It took a few seconds to load certain pages, too. She called up the view-finder and looked at their teams through a blood-red image of the battle, little lines of scrolling data popping up as she moved the lens from Pokémon to Pokémon.

Wartortle's stats were showing at a speedy and high-defense level 31, and his list of moves blurred before Gina's eyes before Ivysuar instead moved into the lens. Ivysaur was level 30 and had stats highest in HP and Special Attack. It made sense to Gina—Ivysaur virtually only used its Grass-type moves now and she'd seen personally how much of a beating he could take and still brush off the damage to go for another round. Charmeleon, as she had suspected, was bringing up the rear with level 28 but the highest stats in regular Attack and Special Defense.

Charmeleon had learned a sick new move, but it had one extreme downfall—Rage was precisely what it sounded like. Gina had him practice it a lot these days so he could get used to it, and while there was no doubt that it was a powerful thing, he was having a hard time controlling it. Gina was starting to wonder if he'd ever be able to. When she shouted her attack command Charmeleon leapt forward at Ivysaur and Wartortle, going for something that looked like a mix between Tackle and Scratch.

Ivysaur managed to Leech Seed him, the sticky seeds latching onto Charmeleon's red scales right as Wartortle aimed a Water Gun at him. Charmeleon, well-versed in the suck that was Water Gun, ducked and rolled to the side, managing to only get a few drops of water that sizzled off his hot skin. Charmeleon sprang back up to his feet, and not waiting for even a second between attacks, slammed into Wartortle and incited a vicious wrestling match with him.

Ivysaur, who was a few yards away from the battle, lashed out at both combatants with Vine Whip. The vines cracked across both Pokémon, the sound deafening as always, and Wartortle responded with a battle cry and a Water Gun that hit Ivysaur point-blank. Charmeleon followed suit in the wake of the water, trying to land a kick to Ivysaur, but Ivysaur rolled out of the way at the last second and Charmeleon slid in the mud.

Now that Charmeleon was slipping unsteadily to his feet behind him, Ivysaur turned his attentions to Wartortle. He tried to seed Wartortle the way he'd done to Charmeleon, but Wartortle spun in his shell rapidly. The slick shell repelled the seeds in all directions and Gina had to dodge to avoid being stuck with them herself. Wartortle emerged from his shell and shot forward with a Tail Whip, overshooting Ivysaur and going instead for Charmeleon, who was now back on his feet and facing front. Charmeleon seemed not to give a rat's ass about the Tail Whip and instead opened his arms, catching Wartortle and beginning to wrestle with him again. They slid in the mud and Charmeleon yowled in pain as some water hissed off his tail flame.

Gina, Amaris and Jason had been shouting a few orders to their Pokémon here and there, but for the most part this session had been a free-for-all. Gina was going to try to get Charmeleon to break out of his Rage whirlwind of random flailing and attacking, already knowing it wouldn't do much good, but movement to her left got her attention instead.

Magikarp was having what looked like a fit inside his bubble of water. Alarmed, Gina ran over to him and, without thinking, reached into the water to try to grab hold of him and still him. She wound up on the receiving end of a Tackle attack to the palm of her left hand. A shot of pain went from her wrist up to her shoulder and she took many steps back, feeling a numb prickling sensation in her arm as she instead fumbled for his Pokéball to return him.

"No, don't!" Jason said, now peering through his own Dex at her Pokémon. "He just hit level twenty, leave him out—he's—"

"Oh god," Gina said, stumbling backwards and falling hard on her ass as her Pokémon, once roughly the size of a backpack, suddenly exploded into something the size of a body pillow. Magikarp's body expanded, the red scales multiplying with a scraping, wet sound as he writhed around as if in pain. It was the most violent evolution Gina had seen and she couldn't shake the feeling there was something really wrong. She yanked out her own Dex, looking through the viewfinder, but before she could confirm or deny what Jason had said, Amaris' arms hauled her to her feet and dragged her backward as Magikarp grew again in another burst. Now he was as long as the sofa inside the house.

"Back up back up!" Jason said, running forward and grabbing both Amaris and Gina. Gina's heart jumped as Magikarp had another violent growth spurt and slapped his tail against the side of Edith's cottage in a wet _thwack. _There was some swearing from inside and soon her Pokémon had an audience gathered a safe distance away.

"Holy mother of God," Kaylee said, backing up until she bumped into the Pokémon pen. Even that didn't look like it would be far enough to avoid the splash zone, so she darted over to where Gina, Jason and Amaris were standing a good thirty feet away.

Gina had to admit that this experience was more traumatic than exciting. Magikarp just continued to grow in those unsettling bursts, and now his red scales were starting to ripple with a new color, like someone was mixing paints together on his scaly hide. The red darkened to violet for a while, and for a crazy second Gina thought she might have the world's first purple Gyarados. The scales continued changing, though, and she realized they were just making the most logical transition from red to blue.

Magikarp's face was starting to change now, and that was almost more unsettling than the sudden jump in size. Her Pokémon's placid, bored countenance was elongating and twisting into something that was anything but dull. It was pretty frightening, actually, his jaw unhinging and lengthening to the point where Gina was pretty sure he could swallow her whole now. Sharp teeth grew with a grinding, wrenching sound and the little whiskers at his face elongated into wildly flailing blue whips as he continued to thrash around in his new body. He hit the side of Edith's cottage again and most of their group flinched back. Edith, who was outside with them, seemed overjoyed though. She had her hands clasped in front of her huge grin like she was watching a toddler take its first steps.

"Uh—your house—" Gina said, worried, but Edith shook her head.

"Don't worry!" she said. "It'll be fine." Even as she said this Magikarp slapped against the side of the cottage again and the sounds of something falling off the bookshelf inside came to their ears.

The final thing Magikarp did in his process of evolution was to roar. The sound was a shriek, but also somehow bassy and drummed low in Gina's chest. Their number cringed low again from the noise and finally Gyarados hit the ground with a crashing, resounding _thud. _The Pidgey flock (what had remained after this shocking experience) took flight, completely done with this traumatic event. The other Pokémon in Edith's pin had taken shelter long ago.

Gina waited a moment before heading over to her Pokémon with extreme caution. Gyarados was lying on his side, looking worn out, and she crept closer, making sure he could see her so she wouldn't sneak up on him.

"Hey buddy," she said gently, edging nearer and finally getting his attention. One enormous red eye rolled up to peer at her. "How you feeling?"

Gyarados made a screeching sound at her, but it was softer and less hair-raising than his first one. Then he rolled over to look at her, his chin resting flat on the ground and his enormous tail whipping to flop down on the grass nearby. Kaylee and Jason barely avoided being crushed by it, dodging left and right. Gina watched the near-murder of her friends with wide eyes, then looked back down to her Pokémon. After a moment of hesitation she reached out and rested her hand against his still-wet head. Each of his scales was about as big as her hand.

Gyarados lifted his head and seemed to want to nudge her in the direction of where he wanted to be pet, and Gina, finally feeling the shock untangle itself in her, let out a strangled laugh and followed where her Pokémon lead.

"Gina!" Jason said, running over to her now that it was established that her Pokémon was fine with her. "Way to go!" She grinned broadly at him and stood up and a second later she was being spun around in the kind of exuberant hug they had not shared since the days of their post-Gym battle victory huddles. Gina laughed louder than she had meant to out of relief that her Pokémon was okay and a feeling like a flower opening to the sun after days and days of nothing but rain. She had started to wonder if this side of Jason still existed inside his tense, serious shell. She squeezed him back and they turned it into a spine-breaking contest.

Kaylee headed over next, still a little wary about the dripping-wet Pokémon but evidently unable to stay away. "_Wicked_ sweet," she said, clearly very impressed. "He's so... he's so _huge, _are they supposed to be that huge at level twenty?"

"Dunno!" Gina said, beaming proudly at Gyarados and still standing with one arm slung around Jason's shoulders. He moved away from her and for a second she wished he hadn't. Then Beth came over and squeed with her over the new, very badass Water-type and started expounding various tips from her experience training them. Gyarados rolled over on his back as if stretching and the gang had to split and flee in different directions to avoid being steamrolled. For the first time in memory Gina's face hurt from smiling too much.

* * *

That night Gina couldn't sleep. Even when she could, some nights the sound of her tooth grinding woke her up, and it was looking increasingly likely that she'd have to bite the bullet (literally) and wear a slip of rubber against her upper teeth at night. Edith had been gracious enough to create one for her, and because Edith had made it Gina knew it was surgically clean, but the thing was uncomfortable as hell and Gina still detested it. Still, she liked sleep, and she liked having a full set of teeth versus broken, jagged pieces, so there might be no choice.

Tonight though her solution would be roaming around and drinking hot water. Victoria's method of giving the body something to do without introducing it to sugar or caffeine past bedtime had really caught on amongst their group, and Gina could now spot fellow insomniacs carrying around hot mugs of flavorless water when she did run into night owls in the living room or outside.

It looked like she might be the only one out here tonight, though. The house was quiet, but not eerily so. Soft settling sounds came to her ears every few seconds, just little shifting creaks of wood or the natural "breathing" of a structure that held so many living things. It was hard for Gina to explain, even to herself, but an empty house and a full house sounded starkly different from each other, even if no one in the full house was making a peep.

It helped her from feeling too alone, but these days it was hard not to feel isolated even when surrounded by people. The happy chaos around her evolved Pokémon earlier in the day had lasted a blessed half hour, but then, slowly, things had gone back to normal. Gina tried to keep it going, asking people if they wanted to battle or see if Gyarados would mind if they took a ride on him. In hindsight it was probably a good thing they'd said no; Edith suggested that Gina and she work with Gyarados on body-awareness exercises since he seemed to be in the throes of awkward puberty and didn't realize where his tail ended and something else solid began. Gina agreed and felt like she was trying to save water in her cupped hands as the group slowly filtered away back to their former pursuits, the smiles turning back into those preoccupied, and at times morose expressions.

It was Jason's return to his training that hit her the most. He'd disappeared with his team into the forest and she actually hadn't seen him return at all. She'd headed to bed early, physically worn out from the day, but had just laid there in bed for many hours, staring at the ceiling and getting nowhere in the process of winding down. By the time she left her room she figured he'd returned and gone into his; at least, she hoped he was in there. Edith usually discouraged him from training in the middle of the night by himself, but Gina got the suspicion he did it anyway.

"Stop," a voice said, and Gina almost jumped out of her skin. She spilled a great deal of her water on the ground, thankfully avoiding being scalded by it herself, but before she could decide whether fight or flight was number one priority she recognized Zahlia's voice and was being fussed over by that same girl.

"I'm so sorry," Zahlia said, actually a little pink in the face. "Haunter was—sorry, I thought you heard me come in," she said again.

Gina chuckled, mostly out of relieved nerves that this was someone she knew rather than a break-in. "I never hear you come in," she said, but with a smile. Zahlia took her mug from her and put it on the nearby counter, then snagged some paper towels and laid them out on the puddle on the ground. Gina moved to help after recovering her brain functions.

"So you said... Haunter was what?" Gina asked, curious now that she spotted the purple Pokémon looking at them from his place in the corner of the ceiling. He was floating upside-down and making chomping motions that were simultaneously cute and a little unsettling.

Zahlia gave Haunter a deeply withering look and Gina could suddenly see her reigning in unruly children. Haunter gave her a sheepish look in return and stopped air-chomping. "He's been very disobedient lately. It looked like he was going to approach you... probably to do one of his pranks."

"Not Dream Eater?" Gina asked nervously, definitely not interested in having any part of herself, tangible or no, eaten by a Pokémon.

"Maybe," Zahlia said, sighing. "He's a handful now. I can't get him to calm down."

Gina's first question was whether or not this had happened in light of Orion's departure, or if Haunter's acting up had started at some other time. She censored it though, not feeling like talking about Orion tonight. Gina watched as Haunter disappeared through the ceiling.

"Blake said Haunter popped some kind of pseudo Dream Eater on him once," Gina mentioned, mostly just trying to make conversation. "And it didn't hurt so... that's good, I guess?"

Zahlia nodded. "Hurt or no, Haunter was grounded in his Pokéball for quite a while after Blake told me that." She glanced at Gina and opened her mouth to continue, but stopped whatever she'd been about to say, moving off to boil more water at the stove instead.

Not really wanting another mug of water but not wanting to refuse, Gina followed her, curious about what she had almost said. "You were gonna say something?" she prompted, leaning her elbows on the counter and stretching out her still-sore hamstrings.

Zahlia was quiet for a while, casting Gina a brief glance before moving off to retrieve her mug from the other countertop. Gina waited patiently, knowing enough by now to realize that Zahlia rarely ever gave a straight answer quickly. If she was pausing that was promising. It meant she was weighing options in her head, and that usually turned out in Gina's favor when she was asking her things.

"I've been doing a little independent research," Zahlia said. "On Dream Eater and what other uses it could have. I'm not completely certain, but I'm starting to suspect based on the accounts I've read that DE can be used sort of like a… lie detector."

"What?" Gina asked, frowning. That made no sense to her, but Zahlia elaborated.

"Dream Eater doesn't hurt humans when it's used against us, so I've gathered from my tests. On Orion it could be used for dream therapy and to help with insomnia, and other people online have said they could use their Ghost-types to forge a sort of temporary link to someone else's mind and see the things that person sees."

"Like... see the world through their eyes?" Gina asked, still not totally following.

"Well, when DE is used against someone while they're asleep, whatever they're dreaming gets eaten... as it were," she said with a smile. "However, I notice that when I have Haunter use the move on me while I'm awake, I experience a vision of sorts."

"Ooh," Gina said, her interest piqued at once. "That sounds kind of neat, actually."

"You think so?" Zahlia asked, now looking just as intrigued as Gina. "Blake sure didn't think so when I brought it up to him."

Gina smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I can see that. I dunno though, seems like it'd be a really useful skill for Haunter to learn. If the visions that people see are some semblance of the truth and not them just tripping out we could learn a lot if..." Gina paused, realizing the implications of that. "If, uh, we ever take a hostage."

Zahlia smiled wanly. "Yes, it's a little dark. Hopefully we'd never be in the position where using DE as a lie detector would be necessary."

Gina pondered that, wondering not for the first time just how deep into this they would get and how many former boundaries they would push until they broke through. She certainly couldn't imagine herself planning interrogation techniques a year and a half ago.

"If you're looking for a test subject, I could try it out," Gina offered. "I mean, you're sure Blake said it didn't hurt or anything?"

Zahlia looked surprised again. "No, he said it was just unexpected and therefore unwanted. But he mostly just felt chilly when Haunter did it," she explained. After a pause and a quick glance to the right, she added, "Are you sure you don't mind trying it out?"

"Naw," Gina said. "I mean, heck, I'm curious. I could even give it a whirl now since I'm not sleeping anyway," she added with a shrug. Oftentimes Gina felt a little useless in the group, only really offering up her services for domestic things like feeding the group or cleaning the house, or for training purposes. It would be nice to be involved in some sort of project like almost all the others were.

"Okay," Zahlia said, still looking a little stumped but now offering her a smile. "If you're sure."

Gina felt sort of like she was back at one of the few slumber parties she'd attended growing up. Granted she'd never been a guinea pig for a Pokémon attack at one of those parties, but strangely her level of excitement was about the same. Gina navigated her way to the couch and sat down, tucking her feet up under her body and watching as Zahlia gave instructions wordlessly to Haunter. Not knowing what to expect but still looking forward to this new experience, Gina found herself grinning partially out of nerves but mostly because this felt like joining some secret club.

"Ready?" Zahlia asked, and Gina gave her a thumbs-up.

"When you are!"

The transition was seamless, exactly like being unable to pinpoint the precise moment when one fell asleep. Gina was back in Pallet, roaming through quiet streets at sunset, one hand in her pocket and the other around Charmeleon's Pokéball. The world was still and silent and a pervasive feeling of peace washed over her.

There was a figure standing at the entrance to the town, leaning against the log wall, and as Gina drew nearer she realized who it was. A smile broke out on her face and she strolled up to greet Jason, who was looking both lost and lost in thought. He looked up and held her gaze, and for a moment Gina hesitated. He looked so different with that open, vulnerable expression on his face, and she opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong.

Jason pulled her into his arms for a hug, and even though they'd done this before Gina found her body clunky and heavy, unsure of how to respond. She balled her hands into fists as she hugged him back, as if touching him with the pads of her fingers or her palms was somehow too much.

When she felt the pressure of the first soft kiss to the top of her head heat rushed into her face and raged particularly hot in her ears. Her eyes widened against the soft orange fabric of his t-shirt and she held her breath, feeling something she had only ever been told about or had read about in books; her heart actually skipped. She wanted to say something, to ask him what was going on, but no words would come out.

He leaned down and nuzzled the side of her face with his, a gesture so intimate and personal it could not be mistaken for anything else, and every inch of Gina's skin tingled. She had never felt this way before. She hugged him back tighter, mostly out of fear, and then the ground was gone and they were in a free-fall together. The sheer shock and terror almost felt good, and then it was over.

Gina had her eyes open the whole time, but it still felt like she was shocked awake from deep sleep. Her whole body twitched hard and Zahlia even jumped a little at her sudden motion. The two girls looked at one another and in that moment Gina knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Zahlia had seen everything.

Her face burned so bright she was peripherally surprised it didn't glow in the dark. "Think I'm tired now," she said, tacking on a weird, forced laugh to the end of her sentence and getting up. Zahlia stepped aside to let her go and didn't say a word, and Haunter chuckled softly as Gina made a hasty retreat. She made a pointed effort not to look at Jason's door as she passed on her way to her own room, and it was only once she was safely locked in and tucked in bed that the chorus of _no no no no _started up in her head.

* * *

_Author's Note: Here we go! Visit my blog for story updates and other writing and Pokemon related things. Pokemonrose dot wordpress dot com_


	2. A Warning :Beth:

Pokémon Crimson

Chapter 2: A Warning

(Beth Larson)

"So… so, what? We think Broome is clean?" Kaylee asked, pulling her feet up on the kitchen table and immediately putting them back down as she caught sight of the half-breath Edith took. "Sorry," she muttered, leaning down and rubbing her elbow across the tabletop where her feet had just been. Edith smiled at her and moved off to get her Christmas gift from their Secret Santa party the year before, a series of lemon-scented cleaning supplies.

"We can't assume that anyone is clean," Gav said, moving aside so Edith could scrub the table quickly. "There are nine former League members who are still even remotely in the public eye, but for all we know all nine of them could be dirty."

"They could also be in touch with other former League members," Victoria mentioned. "Just because there are only nine really 'on the circuit' right now doesn't mean they don't stay in contact with some others. And any number of them could be clean or dirty."

"At least the table's clean," Gina said with a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up. Beth gave her an amused, confused smile and Gav chuckled slightly. Victoria just stared. "Sorry," Gina said, dropping her hands, then her head, onto the table. "Just a little scrambled."

Beth had definitely noticed Gina's weird behavior over the past few days. She wondered if she and Jason or Amaris had had a fight—Gina didn't seem to want to train with them when they did their daily regiment anymore and the Initiate had actually asked Beth for a battle just that morning. The training lines had been blurred a great deal in the past many months.

"Broome's been spotted at some Pokémon Liberation Front events, right?" Victoria asked, getting them back on track.

"Yeah, but that was years ago. He's not so much into the public appearances anymore, not any more than he was then," Beth said. "Not like MJ."

Kaylee snorted. "Yeah, to put it lightly." Mary-Jane Worthington was the single most marketable and recognizable Champion that Kanto had seen in the last decade. She was born into wealth and had taken to the privilege and limelight of being a League member with no trouble whatsoever. She had her own line of school supplies, exclusive training gear, hair and skin-care products… it was hard to go shopping and not see a ten-foot tall bust of MJ with her showy Rapidash behind her and some product her brand was selling emblazoned on the front.

Tim Broome, on the other hand, was one of the Champions who seemed less enamored with fame. He largely kept to himself and minded his own business, though he'd been known to give the occasional interview in the first few years after his victory. He'd become more and more reclusive since, though, and had developed "Red syndrome" as the public called it—collect the badges, beat the League, become famous—and flee the public eye.

Gav sighed. It was his "we're getting nowhere" sigh and a moment later he did it—"we're getting nowhere."

"At least we're still discussing," Kaylee said, her temporary, interested break from her normal brooding state now over. "It's better than nothing."

"Right," Gav agreed. "Right. I know." He got up and cracked his neck, then observed his sister carefully. "Come on," he said after a second, walking over to her and slapping the side of her knee. "Let's go battle."

Kaylee did a double-take to him. "… Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" she asked incredulously. Her smile had returned somewhat, though, and she swung herself off the table to follow him into the front yard. "And don't you ever get tired of being whooped?"

"Hah, you wish," Gav said, going to give her a noogie and getting a punch in the side of the ribs instead. "_Ow,_" he said loudly, and Beth covered a laugh. Gav should know better than to challenge Kaylee to any sort of human-spar by now.

Gina looked up at the people still gathered at the table and seemed to decide that, for whatever reason, the odds were no longer in her favor. "Headache," she cited, getting up and heading for the hallway.

"Oh, do you want me to bring you any of the herbal tea?" Edith asked, getting up as if to follow.

"No!" Gina said quickly. Then she shook her head and blushed at her outburst. "No. Sorry, I'm fine." She refused to make eye contact with Edith as she retreated.

Edith looked confused and troubled. "Something must be going around," she muttered, closing the half-open coffee and tea cabinet. "Zahlia's been under the weather the past few days as well." Edith moved off to return her cleaning supplies to the small table they'd come from, but Beth could see her get distracted by some dirt before she got there. Everyone had their way of dealing with stress—some trained, some cracked lame jokes, some fed into their OCD more than normal.

Some sighed tersely, which was what Beth's sister was now doing. Beth remembered this trait of Victoria's from early childhood—whenever Vee was pissed she seemed to draw comfort from verbal and visual displays of her anger, even when there was no one around to see it. Beth had heard her sighing as loud as possible in their room when they were younger. Some people persisted that Victoria would feel better if she just put a smile on and looked for the silver lining. Victoria usually looked like she wanted to punch these people.

"Walk?" Beth offered, standing up and pulling her arms forward into a stretch.

"Yeah," Victoria said, also getting up. "There is nothing more frustrating than getting nowhere."

"Aw, that's not true," Beth said as they took the back exit into Edith's yard. "I'm sure I've been more frustrating at _least _ten times before in my life."

It was a joke, of course, and they both knew it, but it was a mark of how discouraged Victoria was when she shook her head and answered softly, "No, you really have never, ever even come close."

Beth gave her a sad look. "I know," she said quietly. "At least the Initiates are getting really close to ready for the Gyms. That's active progress."

"Versus passive pow-wows, yeah." Victoria mumbled something else under her breath and held a branch back for Beth as they ventured further into the forest.

"What a gentleman!" Beth joked, clasping her hands over her heart, and Victoria rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I _am _the closest thing you have to a guy in your life, aren't I?" she asked. "When you gonna find that Rei dude and have nine million of his freakishly-abbed babies?"

Beth burst out laughing and answered before she really thought it through. "Like you should talk! At least you actually _see _Gav, when are you two gonna finally make it official?"

Beth cringed even as she finished saying it. This was forbidden territory and she had utterly forgotten.

Victoria didn't shoot her a glare or tell her to be quiet. She just sighed, slightly softer than she had before, and looked straight ahead. Beth felt like an idiot and resolved not to say anything further, but to her great surprise Victoria continued the conversation herself.

"He's great," Victoria said, like she was very reluctantly ceding a point in a debate. "He's pretty much perfect. I guess that's the problem."

Beth stared at her and began to slow her walk. Victoria didn't slow, and Beth was soon looking at the back of her head instead. Beth's confusion gave way to at least three different questions, but the first thing she asked was, "come again?"

Victoria didn't seem to want to repeat herself, so Beth stated one of her other questions instead. "So… Gav is 'too perfect' and that means… you don't like him?"

If Victoria was going to try to agree with that assessment Beth would have called absolute BS on it, but Victoria shook her head. "Never said that."

"Didn't say much of anything at all," Beth mumbled, but the fact that Victoria hadn't actively told her to stop pursuing this subject was promising. "So, I'll take that cryptic statement to mean you like him, but you think he's too perfect. Whatever that means."

"Sounds like exactly what it means," Victoria responded, maddeningly brief.

"Okay, which brings me to my next two questions—first, how, exactly, is Gav even close to 'too perfect' in your mind? I mean, don't get me wrong—I love the guy, he's awesome. But are we talking about the same person, here?"

Victoria seemed to understand that would take more explanation and conceded to give Beth one. "It's… the way he is. The way he acts and handles things. It's good and all but—it's unnerving. I guess. 'Too perfect.'"

"How so?" Beth prompted.

"It's—take the Saffron Gym disaster," Victoria explained. "The way he reacted when he realized our teams were what gave us away."

"He was upset," Beth said, frowning. "He's _still _upset."

"That's just it. Does he _seem _upset? Did he even get angry? He just internalizes everything. It's… I don't understand it," Victoria said, throwing her hands up. Beth just stared.

"Well… yeah he internalizes. We all know that. It's one of the things that makes him, y'know, not perfect. I'm just, not following," Beth said, shaking her head out. "What about him trying to keep his cool makes him somehow not a good partner in your eyes?"

"I don't understand him, as much as I like to pretend I do," Victoria said flatly, sounding oddly defeated and resigned, two things Beth normally never heard her sister sounding. "I don't know what goes on inside his head and there are no outward clues to go off of."

Beth wanted to tell her she was nuts but thought her response through a little more carefully. She'd have to tread lightly. "Well… you're pretty open about your feelings. As everyone knows," she jibed gently. "But just because you're like that doesn't mean everyone is. And it doesn't mean Gav like—doesn't process feelings. He just does it differently."

"See, I know somewhere inside that what you're saying is right," Victoria said, finally looking into Beth's face. "It just can't change the way I feel. Which is uncomfortable."

"But—but you guys spend like, _all _of your time together," Beth said, trying to argue her point against a star debater and hoping she'd get farther than round one.

"Yeah, we do, and that's fine. But there's a huge difference between being close friends and companions and taking it to the next level. I'm not ready for that. Might never be, with him. That's just how it is… I hope you can understand that. He just doesn't seem… human, to me, sometimes."

Beth shook her head. "Yeah, okay, whatever you say."

"You can be mad at me if you want, but that's how I feel."

"I'm not mad," Beth insisted, and met Victoria's eyes. "Really, I'm not," she assured her again. "Just, sort of confused."

"That's fine," Victoria said with a sigh. "Come on, let's see what the wonder siblings are up to in their battle. I'm done fighting weeds out here."

* * *

Gav's PDA had pinged them to the news story and the gang had assembled hastily in the living room, trying to get Edith's TV to come online. In reality they needn't have rushed—the news story they were looking for was on just about every channel and would apparently be repeating at four, six, and ten.

"Nathan Fremont, Deputy Leader of the Vermilion City Gym, was sworn in today as the official Leader in light of Vincent Warren's continued absence." The reporter was a young strawberry blonde with a lot of freckles and a lot of fear in her eyes. She seemed to be new.

"Fremont is unavailable for comment, but it's been confirmed that he _is _in the Vermilion area." Gav and Jason exchanged a grim look in front of Victoria.

"I guess at least we know where he is," Gav muttered.

"I wonder if Orion's with him," Jason added darkly as they flipped to the coverage on a new station.

"Fremont had been Acting Leader in Warren's absence, but that position has just been formalized as of this morning," an older anchor said as a picture of Jason's stern-faced father appeared on TV. "The Elite 4 swore him in at ten a.m. with what was a little less than the usual pomp and circumstance."

"Yeah, that's true," his co-anchor said, looking a little amused. "Any word on whether or not there will be a more formal ceremony later?" she asked, a question apparently directed at a field reporter. The screen flashed to a young man who looked windswept like most field reporters did.

"No, no word yet!" he called, outside the Vermilion City Gym's doors with what looked like half of Kanto. "As you can see it's quite busy out here!" he said, talking loudly as he struggled to be heard over the roar of the excited crowd. "All the jilted trainers Warren's blown off in the past—oh, decade?—look like they've come out of hiding now!"

"Fremont will sure have a lot on his plate," the first anchor said. "More on this story after our break."

A commercial for Silph Co. came on and Victoria muted the sound. Beth thought there would be an outburst of noise and talk but everyone was silent.

"So I guess this means no one thinks Warren is coming back," Gina finally said.

"I guess not," Beth agreed. A dark look crossed over Kaylee's face.

"There hasn't been much in the news about his disappearance lately."

"Could be because it's old news now," Edith suggested, but Gav shook his head.

"It's the same with Rock Tunnel," Gav said, his voice flat. "The same as with our grandfather." Beth frowned at that for an entirely different reason than anyone else was—did Victoria really not think Gav was emoting when he got like that? To Beth it wasn't even an issue of reading between the lines—it was obvious how he felt.

The door opened and it immediately registered to every single person in the room as wrong—everyone they knew was already gathered there around the TV. As Beth and the others spun to face the intruder, though, she realized that wasn't correct—there _was _someone else missing from their ranks, one who had been missing for months now.

Orion gave them a bland, hard look, something Beth had never seen before on his face. She thought if this were a movie he'd have delivered a snappy one-liner, but as it was half of them were already trying to speak over each other at him.

Jason was on his feet first. "Orion," he said, his blue eyes wide and a look of youthful disbelief and hope finally back where it belonged on his face.

"Oh god," Kaylee said, flying to her feet next and putting her hands over her mouth. "Are you alright?" she asked those words in perfect time with her brother.

Orion lifted his hand to silence them, and it was a mark of how stunned they were that this small motion actually shut up ten amped teens.

"I'm only going to warn you once," Orion said, and Beth's heart and stomach grasped one another and did a swan dive into the floor. "Drop everything and go into hiding. It's not worth it and you will never succeed. The best you can do is try to keep off the radar now."

Beth didn't want to look, but something about these situations seemed to compel the eye to the worst possible sight. As it was she focused on Jason just in time to catch his crushed, crest-fallen face.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I don't believe this bull crap. Who is making you say this?"

Orion shook his head, still looking stern and expressionless, somehow, in light of his brother's dismay. "No one. I chose to come back here and warn you because I don't want to see anything bad happen here."

The way he worded it tore at Beth. He should have said "I don't want anything bad to happen to you—" it was what he meant, but instead he had dressed it up and made it vague, distancing himself and hiding behind words that sounded like they belonged to his father.

Kaylee was flushing red under her tan and set her face in a challenging stand-off. "You don't want anything bad to happen?" she asked, sounding hurt and incredulous. "What could be worse than you strolling back here, sounding like one of them, telling us to abandon _everything _we've been working for—"

"You don't even know who 'they' are," Orion said, his voice and face still unmoved, and Victoria chimed in.

"So tell us what we're up against," she said at the same time as Blake asked, "The League, right?"

Orion smiled, but it was such a bitter, jaded thing it could barely be called a smile. "That's not why I'm here. I told you my message and I already said I'm not going to repeat it."

"What _happened _to you?" Jason demanded at the same time Amaris started with, "So let me get this straight—" Beth was sure he was going to poke Orion's plan of action full of holes but Orion put his hand up again and cut him off.

"No. I did what I came here to do—you all get one free warning, from me, so you have an outside chance of believing it. That's it, and believe me when I say that's generous."

"Where—are you just going to _leave _now?" Kaylee demanded, aghast.

"That's the idea of a warning," Orion said, turning to leave. A lot of things happened simultaneously, but the most important were the multiple flashes of red light. Beth was soon staring, open-mouthed, at a room full of her friends' Pokémon—Growlithe, Ivysaur, Wartortle—and amidst the shouts of chaos her eyes locked to Orion as he turned slowly back to them. His eyes were colder than she'd ever seen anyone's before and it only made his smile more terrifying.

"You can't be serious," he said, barely audible over Jason's own almost identical question.

"You can't seriously think we're just going to let you leave?!" he demanded, but a moment later there were more flashes of red light and chaos erupted.

As Beth dived out of the way one thing became clear—Orion's Pokémon had evolved. Persian locked in a struggle with Growlithe, a feral, wild hiss raising the hairs on Beth's arms. Raticate was trying to sink its fangs into Wartortle's shell as the turtle spun wildly to avoid injury. And Clefable—how had it even evolved with so little training as Orion's newest team member?—was thrashing on Ivysaur with a vicious Pound attack. Edith's cottage was nowhere near Pokémon-battle-proof and figurines, electronics and furniture flew to the ground and into walls. Puffs of porcelain and shattering glass completed the warzone.

Beth was crouched behind the armchair and looked around to see who else was there. Zahlia was near the coffee table, frozen for once versus leaping into action.

"Haunter!" Beth called out over the din to the other girl. "He'd be able to fight!"

Zahlia just looked at Beth, that frozen look still on her face, and Beth quickly realized she would not be able to bring herself to fight Orion.

Jason and Amaris were more in the middle of the room, throwing their arms up over their faces to block debris and stray elemental attacks, but Kaylee was determined to get up close.

"Kaylee," Gav shouted, reaching for his sister's arm and missing. "_Stop!"_

Kaylee didn't seem to hear him, and she vaulted over a fallen chair and ran towards Orion. Persian, taking this as an attack on its trainer, yowled fiercely at her and leapt to intercept. Beth could only watch in slow-motion horror as the cat's powerful jaws closed tight around Kaylee's forearm. There was a snap and a scream.

Gav shouted out his sister's name and there was a rush of aid as every single person in the room ran to help. Beth's eyes tore up to Orion's face, and while she was sure many of them missed it, she caught it. Though his face remained perfectly impassive, something in his eyes flashed in a perfectly readable expression of sheer remorse and horror. Then his Pokémon disappeared in flashes of light and Orion, too, vanished.


	3. Human :Victoria:

Pokémon Crimson

Chapter 3: Human

(Victoria Larson)

"I'm fine," Kaylee said for the umpteenth time. "Seriously."

"Please just hold still," Edith said, about as harsh a request as she ever made. "You will be fine, of course. But I really need to set this. I can't just let you run off."

"What are you even so eager to do?" Beth asked, frowning at Kaylee from where she was kneeling in front of her. Kaylee was sitting at the kitchen table with her wounded arm stretched out in front of her, Edith examining her gash and the break, dabbing it with Q-tips and alcohol swabs. Victoria could tell Kaylee was in pain; she winced whenever Edith's touch, however gentle, made contact with her skin. Yet Gav's sister was staring straight ahead while Edith worked, her face set in a dark scowl like her badly fractured arm was the farthest thing from her mind. Apart from the cringing and occasional jaw-clenching Victoria would have thought she was sitting through something as routine as a shot.

"Go after Orion," Blake said bleakly. Kaylee shot him a look but turned away from him again as Edith put aside some bloodied gauze.

"Seriously?" Beth asked, looking even more worried now, and mildly sick to her stomach.

"He's not himself," Kaylee muttered, the last word coming out as a protracted hiss from Edith's medical attention. "There's something wrong with him and we can't just… give up."

Victoria glanced at Jason, the next person most likely to drop everything and charge after Orion, even though they truly had no idea where he had gone. The older Fremont brother had vanished into thin air, as if teleported, but he'd had no Abra, as the others had pointed out immediately once it was apparent Kaylee was going to be okay. Now while they patched her up the room was split between talk of Kaylee's arm, Orion's visit, or tense silence.

"He could've had a PokéDex," Gina said dully from her spot sitting on the kitchen floor, cross-legged. She was playing with the frayed hem of her jeans and staring as if through the floor into the core of the earth below. Many of them were doing this—staring off into space as if shell-shocked.

"Maybe," Amaris allowed. "Though how he would have gotten his hands on one when they're so scrupulously registered to Initiates is beyond me."

"Who knows," Gina said, tossing up a shrug. "He's got… connections, now. Maybe they found a way to replicate that teleportation technology or something."

The members of their group who were eerily silent were Jason, Zahlia, and Gav. Victoria could guess why. Jason and Zahlia would, of course, have taken this visit from Orion just about the hardest, and Gav… well, he'd just seen his sister maimed by one of their former friends. Victoria's eyes flashed to his face over and over, looking for some sign or cue about how he was taking this and if he was calmer or barely containing some kind of poisonous, dark feeling. As usual his face gave nothing away.

"I don't want to cause waves," Victoria began carefully, for once 100% meaning those words, "But we should talk, sooner than later, about the fact that Orion knows precisely where we are and can come and go instantaneously as he pleases."

There was more of that awkward silence, which Victoria had expected. No one wanted to be the first to admit that Orion could now be a huge liability and danger to them.

Amaris spoke up first, which wasn't surprising to Victoria. "It's a fair point," he said mildly. "I like Orion. I really, genuinely do. I wish he wasn't brainwashed and acting like his father, and would just come home so we can deal with whatever this crap is together. But that doesn't appear to be in the cards."

Jason got up and left. Victoria had expected this, too, or some version of this. She was mostly just grateful Amaris and Jason weren't swearing at one another again. It was probably the most civil thing Jason could be expected to do at the moment. Amaris sighed, but that was all the reaction he gave as Jason departed. Edith looked like she wanted to follow him, but wouldn't leave Kaylee half-bandaged. Victoria noted that Gina, normally the second-in-command when it came to reaching out to the troubled Fremont brother, was staying put too.

"I don't know what's best," Edith said with a soft sigh, adding structure to Kaylee's splint and wrapping more soft white bandages around her arm. "A large part of me wants to trust that Orion meant what he said—and he won't be back."

"He meant it," Kaylee said with a heaviness in her voice too old for such a young girl. "He won't be back."

"Forgive me for not exactly trusting the guy who mauled you," Blake said with a grumble, and Amaris snorted out a bitter laugh to show he agreed.

"This was an accident, and you all know it! Everyone saw," Kaylee insisted, and to Victoria's shock Beth spoke up next, pulling at her hair the way people usually only did in the movies.

"Kay—you sound like a beaten housewife! Accident or not, Orion's feral Pokémon broke your arm!"

Kaylee stared at Beth as if betrayed, but though her face reddened, she wisely didn't argue back. Silence reigned again and Victoria could feel one of her patented headaches coming on.

"Let's not decide today," Gina suggested. "We're all feeling a little insane. Might not be best to like, pack up and run away. That's sort of a big commitment to make."

"Having someone's arm almost bitten in half is sort of a big thing, too," Blake said, and Gina gave him a short glare, which was a rare bit of animosity between two parties who were normally quite neutral to one another.

"I… don't know if packing up and leaving is even something I can do," Edith finally said, quietly, as if she was sort of hoping no one would hear her interjection. Hear Victoria did, and she was going to ask why until it dawned on her. Duh. A life in the clutches of extreme OCD and dozens of emotionally-damaged creatures in a carefully-controlled world wasn't something Edith could just pack up in a suitcase overnight.

Amaris didn't pick up on it right away. "Why is that?"

Edith was put into the position of having to explain, which caused a twist of sympathy in Victoria's stomach. "I can't really… relocate these Pokémon so easily," she said. "Or maybe at all. They're all used to life here, and unless I just… release them all into the wild… I'd have to find someplace that could accommodate them." She sounded like the idea of doing that was the worst possible punishment she could ever receive for a life of brutal crime and Victoria could understand why.

Amaris wasn't quite so understanding. "Sometimes plans change and people have to adapt. You're saying keeping your Pidgey flock unruffled is worth risking your life?"

"Amaris, lay off," Gina grumbled, putting her face in her hands. "She's just saying it's not so easy to just leave. Not that she'd rather _die _than move. No one's saying that."

"Who's even saying that we would be _killed _if Orion knows where we are?" Kaylee asked, but Beth snapped "don't start," at her, once again surprising Victoria.

"Okay," Kaylee said, now giving her full attention to Beth. "What is going on here?"

"What's going _on _here?" Beth parroted. "You're my best friend and you charged someone who we were having a freaking _Pokémon battle _with and could have gotten yourself killed! You're so goddamn lucky it was just your arm! Do you actually _realize_that?"

Kaylee seemed just as stunned as everyone else by that outburst, and took a while to respond. "I—we brought out all our Pokémon first. He was only retaliating."

Beth actually let out a strangled little scream of frustration and was the second of their number to depart the scene, heading outside instead. Victoria felt a stab of worry and followed her, just to make sure she was staying within eyesight. It felt like everything outside the realm of Edith's cottage was violent, contested territory now, and as Victoria carefully dodged some shattered porcelain on the ground, she corrected herself—even the safety inside these walls was a laughable illusion. She watched Beth's back as her sister paced around outside near the Pokémon pens and half-listened to the conversation taking place behind her.

"That was unexpected," Amaris said simply, then, out of the blue, agreed with Gina for once. "We should probably not talk about this any further if our most patient team member just screamed and left the room."

"Agreed," Zahlia said, speaking up for the first time since before Orion even showed up that day. It was hard to believe they'd been watching Fremont's news coverage on TV just an hour ago. It felt like weeks had passed since then.

It was also a mark of how dismal their situation was that Gina didn't even make some sarcastically shocked comment about the rarity of Amaris admitting that she had a valid point. Instead the Initiate just got up and headed to her own room, and bit by bit their crew departed, either heading outside or off to likely sleep. Victoria started picking up pieces of wood and glass, making a little pile on the coffee table just to have something to do while her sister fumed and her friends dispersed.

"There," Edith said, sitting back and looking her work over. "You're done. I'll need to switch those out frequently though, and let me know when you're planning to shower tonight. I'll need to give you some pointers about keeping water off that as much as possible."

"Thanks," Kaylee said in a deadpan voice, getting up and staring impassively down at her arm. A moment later something seemed to come over her and she bit her lip, tears in her eyes, and pulled Edith into a hug with her good arm. "Thanks," she said again, with more feeling. Then, sniffing heavily, she moved off down the hallway. Gav got up and followed her without a word and Victoria felt a twist of complicated emotion at the sight of the siblings going off to tend to their visible and invisible wounds together.

She headed outside, where Zahlia and Blake had joined Beth. The three were not talking to one another but were in the same general area, looking at the Pokémon pen. Earlier Beth had taken a walk with her to talk to her about her frustrations. Now it was Victoria's turn to return the favor. Beth looked up at her with exhausted eyes as she approached, and without a word the Nakawa siblings departed silently, ceding the pen area to the Larsons so they could talk in peace. If there was one thing Zahlia and Blake were, it was observant.

"You alright?" Victoria asked, and Beth laughed, putting her legs through the slats in the horizontal boards of the pen and sitting on them, her arms draped over the top. Victoria copied her pose and sat beside her.

"No," Beth said honestly. "She just… makes me so insane sometimes."

"Could have fooled me," Victoria said simply. "Doesn't seem like you two fight, really."

"Normally we don't," Beth said. "But she's so… hot-headed. Normally it's refreshing, she's always so… out there, go-get-em." Victoria nodded, sensing Beth just needed to vent. "But today it was stupid and flat-out dangerous, and I'm pissed. It was like she didn't even think before she acted."

"She didn't," Victoria agreed. "It was a purely emotional thing." In that way the Harrisons were complete opposites, and Victoria sighed, realizing she was having a problem with Gav that Beth would never, ever have with Kaylee, and vice versa. Imagining Gav flying off the handle in an emotional fit or Kaylee being unreadable was impossible.

Beth sighed and put her forehead against the topmost wooden board of the fence. "I shouldn't have shouted at her. Bad enough having your arm fractured in one day, and seeing the guy you're madly in love with betraying his cause and his friends."

Victoria lifted her eyebrows at that bit of information Beth had unknowingly let slip. It wasn't altogether surprising to hear, but Victoria hadn't had full confirmation of that until now. It made more sense when put in that light, but Victoria focused on the subject at hand.

"I don't think she blames you for being mad. She seems to know on some level she's not being rational. It's…"

"A purely emotional thing, like you said," Beth finished, then scooted over and leaned her head on her sister's shoulder. "This whole thing fuckin' sucks so hard."

Victoria couldn't help but laugh at hearing her normally sunny sister cursing like that, but had to agree. She leaned her head on Beth's and stared over at the flock of Pidgey alternately preening one another and snapping at each other in the next second. Perhaps their own group looked as irrational and crazy to those Pokémon with all their in-fighting and making up. "You can say that again," she said, and when Beth repeated herself as a joke Victoria smiled and closed her eyes.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, sleep did not come for her that night. She was quite certain she wasn't the only insomniac, but when she walked out into the living room it looked like she was alone. She wasn't optimistic enough to figure she was wrong and her friends were all magically sleeping—more likely they were simply engaging in their sleepless activities in the comfort of their own rooms.

Victoria got herself her standard cup of hot water and headed outside. The moon was full and bright, illuminating each blade of grass and a few dewy puddles where a late-evening rain had fallen. The Pokémon were sleeping, curled up or with heads tucked under wings, though a few stirred and looked at her as she headed outside. Victoria was going to head over to watch them peacefully settling in their sleep, but a figure by the tool shed in the distance caught her eye first.

At first her heart froze in her chest and she almost sloshed her water over the edge of her mug. The figure was male, broad-shouldered and tall, and for a wild second she thought it was Orion, back for a midnight raid. A moment later, though, she recognized the stiff silhouette of Gav, and let out a breath. How could she ever mistake that tension-laden figure for anyone else? Victoria headed over to him without even considering that he might be out there to be alone.

"Hey there," she said, and when Gav turned to face her in the moonlight she realized at once that something was terribly different about him.

"Hi," he said, his voice a strained approximation of what it should have been. His eyes were hard and dark in the strangely bright night, and though he wore a smile it was the strangest, most unnatural one she had ever seen. It would have been less eerie if he had been frowning or staring blankly at her, and a chill traveled up her back.

"You okay?" Victoria asked and leaned down and put her mug on the ground.

"No, not really," Gav said, the second person to answer that question with blunt honesty today. It was pretty obvious, really, but she hadn't expected to get anything from him without having to pull teeth first. Worried anew, she opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could he turned around and landed a solid, echoing punch straight to the side of the shed. The whole structure shook and Victoria jumped.

"Sorry," he said at once, his right fist clenching and unclenching at his side as a ripple of a spastic motion crossed over his shoulders and ran down his back. "You don't need to see me like this."

Victoria had no idea what to say for a long moment, but finally managed to unstick her throat and say, "Hey, punch the shed all you like. Your sister got attacked by one of our friends today. You deserve to beat on inanimate objects a little."

"Yeah," Gav said, landing a left hook to the structure now and shocking Victoria again even though she'd just told him he could. She completely hadn't expected him to do it again. "I do, huh?"

"By all means," she said, not wanting him to think she was freaking out, even though in some corner of her mind she was a little. "Have at it."

Gav actually did as she suggested, and Victoria took a few steps back as he thrashed on the wall of the structure, a few of the hits making her cringe since she was quite sure he was turning his knuckles into meat pulp now. It was so loud she was shocked no one else from the house came running to see what was wrong. Either the noise seemed magnified since she was right beside him or the others could see from the living room window what was happening and were leaving them alone.

Victoria's heart was hammering as she watched him, her arms wrapped around herself but her stance solid. In a weird way she felt she owed it to him, to just stand here and witness his pent-up rage and sorrow expressing itself in the most random of ways at the most random of times. It was, she realized with a short start, a purely emotional thing.

She wasn't sure how long he landed punch after punch to the shed, the tools inside rattling from the force of his hits, until he finally crumpled to the ground against the structure and sat there, staring unseeingly through the field. Victoria, in a saner version of reality, would have been more hesitant about approaching a man who had just beaten the shit out of an object that way, but this was her own special crazy world and she found herself kneeling by him instantaneously.

"Sore?" she asked, unable to think of a witty quip.

"I may regret that in the morning, yeah," Gav said simply, his voice wavering, and Victoria yanked him hard into a hug. He was stiff and unyielding at first and it was awkward and uncomfortable, but after a moment he sagged against her and wrapped his arms around her torso. They settled into a better position, Victoria leaning against the shed and him sprawled out, half lying down in her lap.

Gav had his face buried in her stomach, his eyes closed, and was breathing heavily from his exertion. She carded her fingers through his hair, not grossed out or put off by the fact that he'd worked up a light sweat. For a long time they didn't say anything, just sitting quietly.

Then Gav spoke. "I'm not crazy, contrary to all current appearances."

"Of course not," Victoria said with a hint of fondness and humor in her voice. Then, not sure why she said it, she added, "You're just human, is all."

Gav chuckled softly at that, making no movement to leave. Victoria might have muscled him back into her lap if he'd tried. His face felt incredibly hot against the fabric of her pajama shirt and after a moment she realized he was most likely crying, silent and still and almost completely imperceptible. A flutter of some kind of desperate affection burst to life inside her and she squeezed him, probably too tight.

Victoria didn't immediately notice when Gav fell asleep, but even when she did realize it she made no movement to get them inside. Instead she played with his hair and leaned her head back against the shed, eyes closed and the chilly autumn night raising goose bumps on her arms. She was cold and uncomfortable, both legs had fallen asleep, and she'd have a monster crick in her neck the following morning. She couldn't care less about any of that as the gentle start of dawn crept slowly across the grey skies.

* * *

The following morning the Initiates left for Fuchsia. Somewhere inside everyone knew they had been dawdling a little on starting the journey, chasing after level caps and telling themselves they couldn't leave before that. In light of Orion's attack and in the ruined wreck that was Edith's living room, Jason, Amaris and Gina said goodbye to the others and traded hugs with the group.

"Be careful," Victoria said, her shoulders and neck burning from that crick she knew she would get as she gave Gina a rough hug. "Call. A lot."

Gina smiled broadly at her and looked at the ground briefly, abashed but clearly pleased to be on the receiving end of her angry worry. "Yes, mom," she joked, and beside them Edith and Jason wrapped each other in an embrace and refused to let go. Victoria looked over at them and smiled slightly.

"Be careful," Edith said, repeating Victoria's own demand. "Seriously. Don't be crazy or impulsive for once, alright?"

"Me?" Jason asked from his spot buried in her dark hair. "Never." His brow furrowed though and he looked like leaving her behind for however long they'd be gone was the hardest thing he'd had to do in his life. "Wish you could come."

"I'd hold you up so bad," Edith joked, but her voice was thick with emotion. "We'd need to turn the lights on and off like a hundred times before we left any room and I'd need to scrub the Gyms before you guys fought."

It wasn't true, but Edith had become very lighthearted about her condition, able to joke about it to the others much easier than she had before. Gina moved away from the two of them and Victoria wondered if it was because she was trying not to get emotional herself. Now the other girl was talking to Kaylee, who was sporting new bandages this morning.

"Hell," Kaylee said with a heavy sigh. "_I _wish I could go with you. Fighting your way through the Gyms is gonna be so amazing."

"I thought you weren't into the 'loser Master trainer bit?'" Gina asked with a sad smile.

"I was only saying that 'cause I'm jealous," Kaylee joked, but gave her a one-armed hug.

"Alright, this is nice and all, but can we go?" Amaris asked, looking at the time on his Dex in a bad-natured way.

"One moment," Gav said, looking the three of them over again. "Let's run over the plan one more time."

Amaris rolled his eyes and Jason was still wrapped up in Edith so Gina answered. "Touch base at least twice a day. If something comes up and we have to retreat, leave everything behind, since we won't have any identifying items other than our Dexes, which will be on us at all times. Use Amaris' Kadabra to hop part of the way back here, then Jason's to hop the rest of the way home."

"Right," Gav said. "Good."

"I don't know," Gina said though, frowning. "I still think maybe it would be a good idea to have one of the teleporting Pokémon here."

"Speak for yourself," Amaris said. "Kadabra is one of the most powerful on my team. I'll need him to beat any manner of Leader we face."

"If we need you we'll get in touch," Gav promised. "We can work it out so two of you go one way and the third will come provide teleportation backup here."

"And really," Victoria said with blunt fatalism, "if we find ourselves suddenly under attack or something, it's not like all of us could get away with only one Kadabra, anyway."

Gina made a face. "Nice way to say 'don't worry about us 'cause we'd be screwed either way.'"

"Can we _go now?_" Amaris complained and Gina jabbed him in the ribs. He gave her a scandalized look.

"Yes, that's a good idea," Victoria said, feeling a deeply uncomfortable twisting at the idea of not knowing where these three were going to be at all times for the next many months. "Better move out while you've got some sort of daylight." Victoria glanced over to where Jason and Edith were still hugging and Amaris sighed pointedly at them.

"Come on, lover boy." This earned him a glare from Jason, but he reluctantly extracted himself from Edith. A second later she had flung her arms around his neck again and, in an extremely, extremely rare display of exuberant affection, kissed him quite suddenly. Jason looked as surprised as the others for a second before he recovered, and Amaris made a sound of frustration and threw his arms in the air. "I'm waiting outside," he grouched, and Gina turned red and looked away from the pair.

"Me too," she said, giving the rest of the group one last sad smile. "See you… soon?"

"Yes, be optimistic," Beth said, looking much more outwardly tearful than the rest of them. "Try to beat the tar out of those guys and be back before dinner."

Jason finally pulled away from Edith, looking a little stunned but deeply happy, wearing a lopsided grin, and Edith, blushing furiously, took a step back and cleared her throat.

"So," she said, staring hard at the ground. "Have fun."

"Yes ma'am," Jason said with a playful salute, then turned his goofy grin to the others. "See you when I'm a Champion," he said, and it warmed Victoria to see the return of his youthful cheekiness, even if it was only for a moment. Beth made a quip about not being an official Champion until one beat the Elite Four, and from outside Amaris yelled, "_Sometime this year!?"_ Gina said _"God!" _at him, apparently having taken the brunt of his call to her ear. Jason dashed outside, actually laughing at having pissed Amaris off, and after a brief squabble, the three Initiates teleported away.


End file.
